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Tutorial Rewrite 137
🕑 Added 2023-06-01 14:45:52 +0000 UTCIt starts out pretty okay. We walk at a calm pace, only pausing to fight off the local wildlife or to pick up some cacti here and there. My human leather thigh-high boots broke after only a few hours, though I easily substituted them with some snake skin. And then, the trek continued.
We took a break at around midday to eat. It was mainly for Simel’s sake, though. I ate some random flesh from my inventory, Simel ate cactus, and the lizard ate some of the flesh harvested earlier today. With that concluded, we continue walking.
The sun is relentless. I’m covered in a sheen of sweat at all times, and Simel sits atop the lizard slightly hunched over, his hood drawn and a book in his lap. He scribbles something into it. We continue walking.
Something bites onto my foot deep in the soot and I’m pulled under, but it’s just one of those anacondas, so after a few seconds of grappling I’m able to grab its neck and snap it in half. The rest of its body clenches, twitches and writhes before dying. I stand up, skin the snake, and tie the leather around my feet before throwing the rest at the lizard. It grabs the meat mid-air with its jaws before throwing it back at me. I’m almost about to try to tie the snake into a noose for that damn reptile when I notice the way Simel looks at me. Grumbling, I slice the snake in half and stick it in my inventory. We continue walking.
One of my snakeskin wraps fell off but I didn’t notice until my foot was beyond merely well done. By tying a few skins around my hands, I walk on my hands and one foot until the other foot heals enough to walk on. We continue walking.
During a small break spent in the shade of a cavern, we watch as the sun begins to set. We eat dinner and then we continue walking.
We continue walking until the air is so cold Simel’s breath becomes milky white, at which point I thread a bear skin over him. We continue walking.
At midnight, we finally decide to set up camp for the night once we find a suitable cavern. It had a few inhabitants, but I took care of them rather easily. I almost expected the lizard to help, but it was clearly most used to being a steed and nothing more. Since Simel was still asleep, I removed the baggage and things from the lizard myself, only having to avoid its snapping jaws a few times for it to finally accept my proximity. Once it was fully unloaded, I awoke Simel by gently tapping him on the shoulder. It still startled him to the point of almost falling off, but it did awaken him.
We remove the saddle together. Simel seems uncertain, so I set his mind at ease. “I don’t need to sleep,” I say. “So I’ll keep guard during the night. You can sleep easy.” I smile at him. “With me around, you have nothing to fear!”
For some reason, he doesn’t seem to trust my words, but he still goes to sleep. Good enough for me, I guess. Apparently, he did actually bring an entire sleeping ensemble, complete with a rolled-up mattress of some sort, a thick cover and a pillow. All of this he lays out on the floor in the innermost part of the cave. Before he tries to go to sleep, though, he does some weird prayer thing, kneeling down and putting one hand to his chest and the other to his forehead. I have no idea if he actually said anything, though. If he did, it must have been so hushed that even I couldn’t hear it. Nevertheless, with this done, he finally lays down, pulls up the covers—mind you, he is not wearing a pyjamas—and pretends to go to sleep.
I watch him from the mouth of the cave. I am absolutely certain that he did not fall asleep straight away. His breathing was way too fast. If I’d been closer, I’m sure I would’ve been able to hear his heart beating just a little too fast, too.
Is there anything I can do for him? Maybe a night meal? Bedtime story? Goodnight hug?
Before my thoughts can go any further, he suddenly sits up, reaches for the bearskin lying a foot or two away, and suddenly notices the lizard. The lizard, for its own part, is silently curled up across from Simel. At Simel’s gaze, the lizard’s head slowly rises, like a curious dog. Following with the analogy, Simel silently pats a spot next to him. The lizard perks up, gets to its feet and practically skips over to where Simel lays to lie down next to him, curling up and placing his head across Simel’s chest. Then, Simel pulls the bearskin to cover them both. Since the lizard is slightly bigger than a bear, the skin doesn’t cover it entirely, but it doesn’t seem to mind.
And just like that, Simel falls asleep. I can tell it instantly. His hand is on the lizard’s back and the lizard’s tail is curled around them both.
Bundled up like that, they sleep soundly, both taking slow, calm breaths, not even stirring to shift in their sleep.
And I have never before felt such a strong urge to—
The lizard’s eyes suddenly snap open and its head lifts from Simel’s chest but I’ve turned away from them, and after a second or so of feeling its reptilian gaze burn into the back of my head, I can smell it lie down again, calming down as Simel gently pets its head. They both fall asleep again.
When a long-legged wolf-like creature later wanders by, I almost feel glad, because it gives me a distraction from how horribly quaint the cave became all of a sudden. Ripping it apart limb by limb was an excellent bit of stress relief.
<Top—Status—Community>
<04:31:33
Day 367>
<The fourteenth attempt will begin in
28:19:29:27>
I give them about six hours of sleep and then I wake them up. The lizard is easily awoken by stabbing my finger into its behind. Simel is then consequently brought back to the land of the living by the lizard flying away from atop him. For some reason, he doesn’t seem too happy to see me.
We spend half an hour or so repacking everything and eating breakfast, and then we head out.
The day happens like yesterday.
For the evening, we find someplace to rest, and Simel and the lizard sleep.
We wake up and head out again.
The day happens like yesterday.
Simel and the lizard sleep.
We wake up and head out again.
The day happens like yesterday.
The day happens like yesterday.
The day happens like yesterday.
The day happens like yesterday.
And before I knew it, a week had passed in mindless droning desert desert desert desert.
Sometimes, it would rain soot, and we would take cover.
Sometimes, we would meet animals and I would kill them.
Sometimes, to relieve myself of the endless dull monotony, I would specifically seek out animals to kill. Not to eat—just to have something to do.
Sometimes, I would look at Simel and at the lizard, and wonder about how fast I could skin them if I really tried. But skinning Simel is a bad bad bad not good thought, so I stop and don’t.
Sometimes, I consider turning back around and killing the giant and finishing this damn floor already.
But then the day would always end eventually and I’d sit down for a few hours and I’d be left with the black soot inside my head, the dark ashes that burn through my skull and cook my thoughts until they’re nothing but charred guilt.
And then the sun dawns and we head out again.
Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull. Dull.
I decide in my head at some point when my thoughts are the most charred and the heartbeats of Simel and the lizard are the most synced that I am going to find any excuse necessary to kill the lizard. It needs to die. I must kill it. I just can’t stand it anymore. The way it looks at me. The way it snarls. The way it lies curled up like a happy dog.
It must end.
The opportunity arrives with the sootfall. The ever blue sky is covered up in black. I could smell it miles away, but I let it gather. I let it form. Because now, we’re in the middle of the desert, and there isn’t a single piece of cover nearby. Not an inch. No caves, nothing at all. Nothing, save for one, single creature.
I turn to Simel and the lizard, my smile betraying my true feelings as I say, “Sorry, Simel, but I think that,” and I lick my lips, “we might need to find cover. And we don’t have time to find a cave.” I look up at him and I think he might have been able to see the glee in my eyes because he jerks back, eyes wide in fear. I wipe some sweat from my brow. “I’m really sorry,” I lie. “You know I hate to say this, but this lizard… He’s our only chance. You understand that, right? I’ll make it gentle. He won’t even know what happened. Isn’t that good? It’s good, isn’t it?”
He’s pale. I can see the whites of his eyes. He slowly reaches down to take the reigns of the lizard but I’m faster—much, much faster.
I cross the small distance between us and put my right hand on the lizard’s forehead.
<[Touch of Reversed Stroke Resistance (Lv.2)]>
<[Touch of Reversed Organ Failure Resistance (Lv.2)]>
<[Touch of Reversed Brain Damage Resistance (Lv.2)]>
It drops with a dead thud.
Comments
Errannz
The MC's unlikeability has become too much for me I think. I enjoyed it while it lasted tho
